546  Pre-historic  Pharmacy  in  America.    { Axove°mbe?fia9cS* 
are  of  prodigious  size  and  show  the  effects  of  what  seem  to  be  ages 
of  pestle  toil.  These  were  food  grinders,  and  their  owners  must 
have  been  expert  knights  of  the  pestle,  beyond  compare.  Other 
mortars,  as  for  example,  these  exhibited  herewith,  are  very  small 
and  needs  must  have  been  used  for  concocting  arrow  poisons  and 
medicines.  Grading  up  from  little  ones,  such  as  those  before  us,  the 
mortars  of  the  Cliff  Builder  grow  to  a  dished  cavity  in  the  adjacent 
mountain  of  lava. 
The  pestles  are  a  study  in  themselves,  varying  as  they  do  in  size 
and  shape,  in  accordance  with  the  dish  of  the  mortar  bowl  and  the 
use  to  be  made  of  the  utensil.  These,  as  shown  by  the  specimens 
herewith  presented,  some  of  them  made  of  the  hardest  lava  and  yet 
much  worn  by  use,  exhibit  peculiarities  that  puzzle  one  who  studies 
them  with  thoughtful  care.  Accept  that  the  people  who  made  and 
used  them  were  masters  of  the  utensils  that  give  us  our  professional 
emblem,  and  we  do  them  justice  only.  Indeed,  we  must  award 
them  an  exalted  position  jn  our  art,  for  they  teach  us  lessons  con- 
cerning the  pestle's  form,  which  with  us  is  one  common  pattern,  but 
with  them  varied  both  as  to  texture  and  model. 
But  I  must  not  take  your  time  by  details  that  space  will  not  per- 
mit. Possibly,  if  the  subject  is  important  enough  to  others,  I  may 
sometimes  present  the  study  of  this  subject  in  which  I  am  now 
involved  with  the  utmost  charm  to  myself. 
Be  it  enough  to-day  to  bring  these  specimens  of  mortars  and 
pestles,  and  say  this,  our  semi-centennial  is  but  a  leaf  in  Time's  great 
volume  if  it  be  contrasted  with  the  vanished  centennials  of  our 
American  brethren  whose  mortars  and  pestles  are  before  us.  All 
that  is  left  to  speak  of  their  celebrations  and  jubilee  gatherings  is 
locked  in  conjecture  such  as  comes  from  out  the  painted  and  the 
dazzling  desert,  carved  canyon  cliffs,  and  homes  smothering  in  dust 
and  lava.  The  stony  record  of  their  acts  is  before  us,  but  yet  the 
book  of  their  lives  must  needs  be  forever  closed. 
